Congress stops EPA from weakening air-pollution rules.
S.J.Res. 31 — A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Review of Final Rule Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources Under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act". · Filed by John Curtis (R-UT) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 6, 2025 · Signed
Your members of Congress
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What it does
Congress blocked an EPA rule. The rule would have made big air-pollution sources count as smaller ones. Now big sources must still follow strict air-quality rules under the Clean Air Act.
Who it affects
People who live near big air-pollution sources keep stronger protections. Big sources must follow stricter rules instead of weaker ones.
One thing to notice
The rule was stopped. The EPA could propose a similar change again using another process.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Republicans.
- Mar 6, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 6, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
- Mar 14, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works discharged, by petition, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 802(c)”
- May 1, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 52 - 46. Record Vote Number: 229”
- May 22, 2025 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 216 - 212 (Roll no. 143)”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
- Jun 20, 2025 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Became Public Law No: 119-20”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 2 reports from Dec 2025 to Dec 2025.
Those reports show $101,832 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 33 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 41% of bills with any report.
John Curtis, who sponsored the bill, received $429,000 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Sierra Club — $80,000 in 1 report
- American Public Health Association — $21,832 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- Clean Air Act — a federal law that protects air quality and limits air pollution.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,150 characters) on Jul 10, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-17.
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